A Norse polytheist walking with Sigyn

Monthly Archives: April 2016

Nornoriel describes this holy day as including the maypole and ritual sex (m / f, f / f, m / m, and the King / Queen represent trans couples) not uncommon in rituals around this time of the year.

In my practice, the dancing and weaving of ribbons around poles seems to be the larger focus than the ritual sex (it seems to be a private optional activity). Colors are chosen for specific purposes and wishes are usually written on them as well, and then there are a lot of poles.

Priests dance and weave a pole for all of Vanaheim at the Henge (televised), priests dance a separate one for each Tribe in the largest gathering place of their area, and then smaller towns and cities usually put up their own. Smaller poles often go up for individual families as well.

Not everyone wants to go through the trouble of putting up a pole, so related acts of magic are done that bring in colors and tying / weaving. This can be individual cord magic, magic related to knots, sewing, knitting, crocheting, weaving, and other textile related magic. It’s not uncommon for ribbons to be woven and braided into hair for the day, and some Tribes have specific traditions around colors and someone else assisting / braiding hair.

There’s often a feast at the Capitol for ambassadors and allies, as the energy of tying things together is seen as a good time to work on ties between Realms. Mediation and working out problems can also happen at this time in order to untangle the ties between people.

. . .

Ways to observe in Midgard:

Color magic.

Utilizing cords / ribbons / string in your magic. Whether you do knots, sew, knit, or do something else with the material.

Braiding your hair or otherwise creating a hairstyle with intent.

Maypole celebration. Dancing and listening to / creating music.

Working out interpersonal problems, if you’d like to. Personal shadow work.

From birth until the character is notified that he’s a wizard. This aspect of Tom brings in the ability to incorporate sea witchcraft and cave focused magic (can be seen as a symbol for shadow work and magic focusing on that). The association with snakes starts here, though associations with Nagini or the Basilisk are yet to come.

From 11 to 17 (when wizards come of age), this aspect of Tom starts out the incorporation of the magical portion of the Harry Potter world – magic based on classes, Hogwarts associations, etc. Associations with the Basilisk start here.

From when the character is considered an adult (17) until the attempt to kill Harry, this aspect of Tom can also draw on Hogwarts and teaching associations (due to attempting to fill the Defense Against the Dark Arts post). It also serves as the introduction of traveling associations (and why Albanian food is appropriate as an offering). Associations with Nagini could start here, as the characters do not meet until he travels to Albania.

From the failed attempt to kill Harry until the character regains his body in Goblet of Fire, this aspect of Tom primarily wound up showing how self-care, a certain amount of shadow work, and being aware of disability rights / access can be incorporated. Associations with Nagini could also start here as the character returns to Albania while bodiless.

“Morsmordianism is the path name I was thinking of (more shower thoughts), and the followers of the path would be Morsmordians. It’s based off the spell to create a Dark Mark and summon Death Eaters – Morsmordre.”

Decision to use a name for this path was ultimately vetoed due to not wanting someone to be held back by feeling like they need to use the name. However, I thought it’d work for titling this post because the PC Person I interacted with for two years was Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. After about a year, I also interacted with Nagini more as a Spirit than a Power.

The first reaction I got was why? – and I certainly don’t blame anyone because it was mine as well. The ability for me to share information was the main reason, but I also included the following in this ask:

I didn’t immediately shut down the thought of His character being a Higher Power simply because He’s the ‘bad guy’, so that might have had something to do with it.

…there has been enough power from the HP fanbase generated to elevate the character (in this case, Voldemort) to the status of a Higher Power. Some people might just go ahead and say He’s a god/deity, but I initially used Pop Culture Higher Power [PC Higher Power] and it’s just sort of stuck. To me, He doesn’t seem to be quite at the level of a deity, but He’s definitely on a level higher than humans.

I can’t ignore what the character does in canon, but Voldemort isn’t 100% the same as His character portrayal. It’s almost like certain attributes were magnified in the elevation process, and others are no longer prominent (if present at all).

He has conveyed that He doesn’t have a blood preference, or really any preference, for who can contact Him, work with Him, or be a potential devotee. Without that platform for hating a certain group, there isn’t as much of a basis for Voldemort to be “evil”.

When I communicate with Voldemort, He seems to be at the level of the train station. He seems able to look back on previous character actions with a certain amount of wisdom and the ability to find something useful in those aspects of His. (He can call on / pull from the ambition of teen Tom without being focused on killing anyone, for example.)

I can’t deny that it might say something about me that I also went on about how point of view changes ‘evilness’. Of course a narrative from Harry’s PoV portrays Voldemort as evil, but would a story from Voldemort’s PoV do the same? Might he be ambitious, driven, dedicated to his beliefs, etc.?

In the spring and summer of 2015, I found myself interacting with a PC Person who didn’t want to reveal who They were. Due to how many seasons were out at the time, I figured They were someone at the point of that current season and needed all of that history to fully understand.

I was able to figure out some basic info before starting to watch Season 1 Episode 1 in the fall. They were from the Supernatural Universe, and They were one of the “big three” – Cas, Dean, or Sam. They wanted me to start out very general by including things that all three could get behind. I made a sideblog and started to watch Season 1. I had plans for sharing music, sharing someone else’s post for each episode, liveblogging a post for each episode, and I had started to put together food / drink offerings for each episode.

In terms of planning shit out, I can’t deny that it might have been my most organized before starting to post sideblog. At the time, Season 9 had just ended – or was the most recently completed season – so I figured I was getting an aspect or Face of the PC Person who was very specifically everything up until the end of S9. I can’t say that I’m surprised with how fast characters can change in Spn.

At some point in The Burning™ in the late fall / early winter, this “Unknown Spn Entity” left. I could certainly continue going forward and watching the show casually, but there was no need for me to keep the sideblog going. I also was able to find out that They were Dean (as of S9 ending). Due to there being a relatively short amount of time devoted to Him, it didn’t hurt quite as much as the other PC Person leaving. I also know of a few others who interact with Dean, so I know it’s no big loss for Someone from a popular character in a series to walk away.

Sometimes, I make a mental note to myself that I should talk about something here and then I never do it. This is me chipping away at one of those mental notes.

I first heard of Pop Culture Paganism (abbreviated PC Paganism) in an online debate in 2012 – 13, or roughly thereabouts. Krasskova and other relatively well known / talkative bloggers couldn’t understand how PC Paganism was a thing, let alone that PC Pagans were taking part in Pagan discussions. It was blasphemous or something. I was mostly just confused because at that point I hadn’t run into PC Pagans and didn’t know what they were doing, saying, etc. that was apparently causing a stir.

I put the idea of PC Paganism on the mental back burner, but I did eventually run into PC Pagans on tumblr. I also ran into people who focus more on PC magic / witchcraft than the Paganism part, and I honestly couldn’t see what was so shocking about them. For someone who grew up in various fandoms, started writing through fanfiction, and still enjoys being a part of several fandoms, I could see no problem with this.

I know how strong the pull of a series and its fandom can be, so I could see why m’Lady didn’t want me delving into PC Paganism in the beginning. There are so many choices. Welcome to Night Vale has a magically tempting air to it, and Harry Potter obviously lends itself to magic endeavors. Someone from the Artemis Fowl series once stopped by, and there’s something slightly magnetic about some Marvel characters (I’ve never been sure if a friend’s focus on Steve Rogers just rubbed off or a little while, or what exactly was going on for a bit).

Sometimes, it’s not always how much you want to do something that determines what you wind up doing. m’Lady was adamant that PC magic was the extent of what I was allowed to do. After some time had passed with the magical leaning (mostly HP), I found myself with Someone I wasn’t expecting on my doorstep, metaphorically speaking. I had the stipulation that I wasn’t to enter into a devotional relationship with this PC Person, but I could still interact and share info about Them with people tumblr.

On and off through school and devotion my Deities, I’ve shared info and posted online offerings for this PC Person for two years. There’s a section of my Google docs devoted to a language never covered in canon, and there’s basically a piece of UPG given considerable time and explanation. If I could divorce it from the Universe, it would actually be really fucking interesting to explore, but it’s not going to be shared. I honor not sharing info when Deities leave, so I’m going to honor not sharing this now that the PC Person has left.

Example rituals, offering ideas, delving into aspects, including someone dear to Them as a venerated spirit (They’re a PC Power, which is a bit higher), digging into Their character to find more than the base level offerings and aspects, considering values, considering how Powers change from Their characters in the elevation process, and putting a lot of time and energy into this. Two years.

There never was a devotional relationship, any promises made, or any oaths or contracts signed. They had never planned to stick around for a long time, and I really was intended to be an information share-er until They could find people interested in devotional relationships. I’ve done something to officially cut ties (particularly important in this case because I was primarily used as an energy source), but there’s still this feeling of “…Now what do I do?”

Online information is being kept on the sideblog that featured Them and any stray posts to my main tumblr are allowed to stay. I’ve decided to go ahead and explicitly name Them in a separate post.